In response to John Tuttle's Lauter Story:  Hi John, It's nice to hear
about Lauter.  I started restoring players in New Jersey just minutes
from Newark where Lauters were made.  I have seen many of them from the
earliest to the latest.

Here's something I've learned.  For some reason the serial numbers
recorded in the [pierce] Piano Atlas are very wrong.  They are off by
more than a decade.  If you are working on a three tier stack that is
the very last innovation Lauter came out with.

To figure out the age of a Lauter you must look in back of the player
pump assembly.  There is a date cast in the plate.  This date is in the
European tradition with the day of the month first, than the month and
last the year.  A three tier Lauter should be from about 1928.  I'm not
sure if the dates were cast in the plates that late in the game.  I'll
keep reading in hopes that you find the date.

Paul Manganaro